Safe Distance
by Lanber
Summary: The process of making Thrax was stolen in the Gotham biochemical labs. Now the unknown terrorists will deploy a Thrax carrier to Gotham and only Batman and Robin can stop them. Will the leader of the terrorist be brought to justice?


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**Safe Distance**

By Bastich

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_Disclaimer: I don't own the DC characters in the story. The story is copyright Bastich 2005._

_Author's note: I have been doing Dragonball fanfics so far, but this is my first foray in Batman fiction. I'm going to do more Bat fics from now own so stay tuned._

_Thanks to Nydia for the quick beta reading._

_o o o o o o o o o o_

"Wait here," I heard him say as he roped away towards a warehouse full of guards walking to-and-fro.

I had to close my eyes for a few seconds. We've been staking out this warehouse for one day straight with no sleep. Well actually, Batman had no sleep, I had a couple of hours to take a Z. Although to tell you the truth, it's almost impossible to sleep with a situation like this.

A new group, rumored to be Asian terrorists funded by an as yet unknown entity has stolen the data of making Thrax from the Gotham Biochemical research.

Thrax is a process of filling a human guinea pig with all the viruses and diseases known to man. With a touch of a button you can blow the subject apart and spread all the plague that you filled it with.

Jeez, I don't even consider failing anymore. My purpose in life now is to see to it, no matter what, that this stolen data be taken away from the hands of these animals. Not just for Gotham, but for the world.

For now, it's a waiting game for me. The warehouse was guarded tight by heavily armed goons. I think it's better for Batman to do this alone, not that I'm afraid to slow him down. There's just something more of an edge with facing the Dark Knight alone rather than the Batman and his teen-age side-kick. Besides, I think he can handle this just fine without me.

I adjusted a couple of buttons on my field glasses to see more closely in on the action. I wanna see how Batman will handle the infiltration of this warehouse.

I saw him glide gracefully and land gently on the rooftop behind a big water tank. Across the water tank was the door going into the building. The door was guarded by two mooks. Both of the guards carried some mean looking Kalashnikov's in hand, and some very ugly faces.

Slowly Batman climbed up the water tank, hugging the metal to minimize his visibility. He took something from his belt and tossed it at the feet of the goons, the dark night camouflaging the object from their view. It spewed gas suddenly, knocking out the two guards before they realize what's going on. With one swift motion, Batman somersaulted away from the water tank and landed beside the door. Without hesitation he opened the door and went in.

"I'm in," I heard him grunt through our miniature radio. "Switch to Infrared, Robin. Be my eyes." He continued.

I switched to infrared. "Roger that." I noted all of the guard patterns we memorized. It was all the same, everything was well accounted for. Batman didn't really need my eyes, I'm just here to make sure no last minute changes were made on the guard patterns.

I see the heat signature of Batman slowly descending the stairs. So far so good, all our preparations were paying off, all the patterns we studied were go. I noted our target floor. The room where the data was supposed to be hidden was still heavily guarded. Batman has already neutralized a couple of guards on one floor with his gas pellets. He's now on the target floor.

Now comes the hard part. The target floor was protected by movement sensitive sensors. One wrong move and the whole kit and caboodle of guns will go down hard on Batman.

I squinted my eyes a little bit when I saw Batman make a sudden stop.

"Batman, what's wrong?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but I saw him in the infrared bolt to the opposite direction of our target.

"Robin! It's not here!" He yelled, still running in the opposite direction of our target. "My heartbeat sensor detects that nobody is in our target room!" He continued.

"Impossible, I see more than a couple of guards there on infrared…." I stopped myself as I began to realize the situation. I would've shouted 'Get out of there!' but I was almost blinded when the top floor of the warehouse exploded, rocking the peaceful Gotham night.

"Batman! Do you copy?" I shouted.

"Batman!" Still no answer.

_o o o o o o o o o o_

"That's what happened, Alfred." Robin said.

"I'm sure he's alright, Master Tim." Alfred said reassuringly as he handed Robin a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. "I thought by now you are quite used to Master Bruce's mysterious disappearances."

"You don't understand, Alfred. He could have been caught by the explosion! He could be dead!" Robin said exasperated.

Suddenly a small flicker of red light and a digitized beep emanated from the trusty mainframe computer.

"Oracle!" Robin exclaimed as he pushed a button to activate their secured voice conference screen.

"Okay, no need to panic," Barbara Gordon's voice crackled on the speaker. "He's fine. I got his signal 5 minutes ago. He said he wants you on Lawton warehouse at Wharf 10."

"So where the heck is he?" asked Robin.

"Well, where ever he is he doesn't want you there, Boy Wonder. Sorry can't stay to chat too long. I've got Dick on the other line. Oracle out." The speaker of the computer made a static sound and then it turned itself off in an instant.

"Looks like the milk and cookies will have to wait..." said Alfred.

Tim made a last minute bite off a cookie, his mouth was still watering but duty calls. He pushed a red button on one of the many panels of the Bat computer. The button activated a large piston that was located on the ground level of the cave. Out of a large hole, a red car appeared on a giant, metallic disc. The car is called Red Bird, the Boy Wonder's very own mobile office. Tim was glad he was able to get not only a handsome car, but a high performance urban assault vehicle. He immediately eased himself inside the car. His legs needed to constrict a bit to fit inside the driver's seat. The engine roared to life and soon he was leaving smoke behind him. Sunlight reflected on the Red Bird's armor as it moved out of the cave.

Out on the street in plain daylight, the Red Bird was too conspicuous, but slowly the red car transformed from an armored assault vehicle to an ordinary red convertible. Robin negotiated a curve and just barely missed a trash can. He had a lot of questions - Where's Batman? Why was he sent to a different mission? More importantly, what happened to the virus? He can't think of any urgent reason for Batman to pull him out of their priority mission. Bruce must have his reasons, but he can't help feeling his forehead form a crease out of anxiety.

The dark, foreboding night of Gotham swallowed the sun as the disguised Red Bird parked on a vacant lot near a caged basketball court of the Gotham marina. Wharf 10 is just about a five minute swing away from the neighborhood.

After some difficulty swinging from low buildings, Robin finally approached Wharf 10, crouching down all to while to minimize visibility. He saw lights on the first visible warehouse near the dock. The building was supposedly close for the night. The edifice was still, but shadows of people moving told Robin that there's certainly some activity inside.

Using a grappling hook, Robin climbed like a spider up the rooftop of the building. On the roof of the building, he noticed some armed people stealthily surrounding the warehouse. He switched to night vision to see who the armed men were and recognized the bulky frame of detective Harvey Bullock. "So, the GCPD is in the know of whatever is happening in the building," he thought to himself as he opened a window leading to the high walkway of the structure.

The color of his eyes turned from green to white as he turned off the starlight lenses of his mask. He looked at the buzzing activity below and saw a platoon of armed goons on the two opposite sides inside of the building. He observed that the warehouse had two big doors, like that of a garage door, on each opposite sides. The doors were locked and were blocked by sports cars inside. Headlights of surrounding cars illuminated the center of the room where two men were preparing to exchange their respective packages. The man in the white suit carrying a small briefcase he recognized as Sal Vol, a Russian gun runner based in metropolis. The other guy - a new face - was pulling around a crate full of heavy machine guns. The new face had a brown complexion and was sporting a long hair, his accent was Spanish-like but something Robin can't quite be sure yet.

Robin tensed his muscle as thunderous noises flooded the warehouse. The long haired man and his mooks looked at the garage door on the side of the Russians - the door was blown to bits. Canisters fell on the center of the warehouse, some of them exploded in a flash of light, the others expelled teargas.

Loud screams of 'freeze, nobody move' filled the large room as armed police officers in Kevlar vests stormed in. Robin saw Bullock kick Vol's stomach when the gun runner reached in his jacket pocket for a silver Desert Eagle. Vol, who was blind as a bat because of the teargas, didn't have much of a chance against Bullock when the detective cuffed him roughly. The other officers were doing the same thing to the other confused thugs.

But just when Robin thought that all involved in the deal were all rounded up by the police, the long haired boss of the other side was already inside a white Mercedez Benz driving away. The car charged at a garage door, wrecking it into splinters as the long haired guy makes good his escape.

"Oh no, you don't." said Robin as he climbed back up the roof. Robin pounded the roof and jumped his way towards the escaping Benz. The Boy Wonder landed on the roof of the car. He used a batarang to break the glass on the driver's side. He needed to have something to hold on to so he won't drop like a crash test dummy.

Robin punched the head of the long haired man. The car careened violently on the wooden quay as the driver felt the pain of Robin's blows. The man grabbed a gun from his glove compartment, but Robin was able to bat it away before he can fire it at him.

Robin thought that he had to end this now or he will be thrown off of the car one way or another. He reached under his belt and took a capsule. He threw the capsule inside the car, it spewed gas at the face of the long haired man. Robin bobbed his head up to avoid the gas and saw that the car was lurching dangerously on the edge of the dock, the wavy water was like a magnet attracting the car to it. Robin didn't have time to pull the long haired man out when he jumped towards the wooden floor of the dock. He rolled twice to soften the impact of the landing and he saw the Benz dive into the water. He heard the man scream for help in Spanish. Robin bit on a miniature re-breather and quickly dove towards the screaming man.

He pulled out the man from the rapidly sinking car. Apparently the man did not know how to swim. The moon was beautifully reflected by the ocean as Robin pulled the man on the dock.

"I thank you," the man said in accented English. "But now you must die." The man continued as he aimed his snub nosed revolver at Robin.

But before he can do anything, the man vomited whatever dinner it was he ate. Robin smiled at the man and kicked the pistol out of his hand. The pistol landed on the water.

"That wasn't just gas I threw at you, that was regurgitive. Believe me, I can do worse if you don't talk to me." said Robin.

"You will not get anything from me!" said the man between barfs.

"What if I throw you back into the water?" asked Robin. "Or maybe I'll just bring you to Batman, so you can have a heart to heart."

"No, please not the bat!" the man pleaded.

"Hold it, kid!" a voice behind Robin yelled. Robin turned around and saw detective Bullock. "Gotham police have first dibs on this guy. You can come to the station if you want." the detective said gruffly.

_o o o o o o o o o o_

He was moving silently on a garage somewhere deep in the abandoned slum area of Gotham near the warehouse that exploded. He knows this area well, it's abandoned but they don't know that hidden inside this dilapidated garage is a state-of-the-art motorcycle. The abandoned garage was about a one minute walk from the warehouse. He activated his emergency beacon 3 hours ago, the damn blast damaged his communication link to Robin and the cave. He opened a compartment on the motorcycle, he reached out for a spare commlink and attached it to his utility belt.

"Robin, do you hear me?" He said.

He heard a crackle in his ears, "Batman! Thank goodness you're all right!" said Robin.

"Have you gone to the docks?" Batman asked, he made a secure SMS to oracle with his emergency beacon a while ago.

The Boy Wonder narrated what happened to him in the docks. He said that after they brought the perpetrators to police headquarters, Bullock made the long haired man, identified as Hans Cruz, sing a song about his boss that he named Ramon Francisco, a small time gun runner based in Santa Prisca.

"So where's the Thrax carrier?" asked Batman.

"According to Cruz, the carrier was deployed around Gotham water depot. I think they filled him with a bunch of waterborne diseases to infect half of Gotham." answered Robin. "By the way, how did you know that Vol is connected to the Thrax weapon?"

Batman explained that when he had the narrow escape from the warehouse explosion, he had a chance to rescue a guard. The thug was angry that his crew all got decimated and was willing enough to confess to him that the person who hired them will have a racket with Vol at the Gotham docks. Apparently those hired to guard the warehouse were merely expendable decoys to draw away his attention to the real culprits. He clenched his fist as he felt an anger he never felt for a long time - Ramon Francisco, whoever he is, he will pay for toying with so many lives.

"I know you already informed the Gotham Biochemical lab. Don't go near the depot, Robin. Over and out." Batman said as he kicked the starter of the black assault cycle. The motor roared to life. He smelled the rubber wheels burning as it squealed from the pressure of the motor. His knuckles tighten on the accelerator as he powered the cycle away from the dilapidated garage. "I hope I'm not yet too late."

With a mighty roar like that of a V10 engine, the assault cycle lurched to the direction of the Gotham water depot. The night was still and as quiet as death, Batman knew that the essence of the mission was speed or there will be hell to pay.

After going through side streets and different shortcuts, Batman found himself parking silently near the water depot. Batman knew the terrorist should deploy the Thrax carrier near the water storage facility of the depot.

Stealthily, he dismounted the cycle and surveyed the area of the depot. Because of the abundant stars and the steady moonlight he easily saw a hunched man walking aimlessly near a giant water tank. With cat like quickness, Batman automatically turned on the starlight lenses of his mask. It revealed the vile, disfigured face of the man. The man was shuddering from pain while letting out a pitiful scream of agony. Batman looked around to see if the Contagious Diseases division of the Gotham Biochemical lab was around, but he already knew that he was all alone with the carrier.

With a great jump Batman appeared in front of the disfigured man. "Take it easy, I'm here to help." said Batman.

The man screamed at the sight of Batman. He started running but his hunched figure didn't give him any chance to outpace Batman. "Hold on, I know you're not part of this terrorist group. Based from your appearance, you are more of a victim than a willing participant."

The man can only scream, his red eyes told Batman that he has suffered a lot from this ordeal. Batman noticed that the man can't talk coherently because of the heavy dosage of drugs in his system. He surmised that it could also be because the people responsible for this had the man's tongue cut off. "Don't worry friend," Batman said as he lead the carrier away from the water storage facility. "I will try to extract the Thrax device out of your system." He has never done this before, only read about it in medical journals, but he has the equipment in the cycle. He has to make a way, the Gotham health department and the police were too far away from here to get their people fast enough. He has to make a way.

Without any warning the man started jerking and shaking uncontrollably in Batman's arms. Batman wrinkled his nose because of a sulfurous burning smell emanating from the mouth of the Thrax carrier. It may be too late to stop the detonation, but at least he lead the man away from the water storage facility.

The man was screaming from agony, his face contorted in a horrible way as his breath was finally snuffed from him. "Damn it!" Grabbing the body, Batman pulled it away from the depot as far away as he could. He looked at the body. It was still - not even a single hint of detonation. All of a sudden, he saw the body burning from the inside, some acid eating away the flesh of the dead man.

"The process was a failure." Batman thought. "The acid shouldn't eat the carrier's body. The process was probably done in a shoddy laboratory."

Hearing the sirens of police cars, Batman carried the body of the Thrax carrier to the front gate. He clenched his fist and swore that justice will be served on whoever did this horrible thing to the man. Sounds of car doors opening and closing filled the area, then thunderous footfalls preceded. Men in radiation suits circled around the dead corpse. Batman already started his cycle, inching his way away from the maze of police cars and ambulances.

"Alfred, get the jet ready." said Batman on the commlink as he gripped the accelerator.

"And your destination, sir?" asked Alfred.

"Santa Prisca."

_o o o o o o o o o o_

Ah, he's living the life. He was just a lowly gun runner in a small secluded town in Santa Prisca, but from now on everything will be different. He made some contacts in America and Russia so he's rolling in the cash almost everyday. Money...to him, money will make sure he gets out of the pit he's been languishing from. From a small time crook, he's gonna be as big as the mafias he's only heard about in the movies. From now on, he'll be counting stacks and stacks of money, like the ones he's counting right now on his cluttered desk.

Sure, he's made some enemies from the states, especially the one from Gotham called the Batman. He just smirked - the Batman may be the devil himself but in Santa Prisca he, Ramon Francisco, is safe from him. _I'm sure he remembers my name, but what can he do, tough luck, he's in America and I'm here. _Laughter filled his air conditioned room, it was quiet and warm in Santa Prisca tonight, but tomorrow will be hot as hell. They are already beginning to make another Thrax carrier and send it again to some city. This time, there will be no more mistakes - he made sure of it. One failed test will not be enough to deter other customers if the second batch will work.

The air outside was humid and calml. Only the noise of the air conditioner was humming in the background. Suddenly, the lights went dead. All electrical appliances stopped working. He grabbed the telephone and dialed frantically to his people downstairs. He's not gonna sweat like a pig anymore. He's in the big leagues. He has what they call in America, a generator. He slammed the phone down hard. Why the hell doesn't it have any dial tone? He's paying good money and the phone company can't give him any good service. He opened the window hoping for some cool breeze to blow in his room. He looked outside his newly built compound where a makeshift lab rests on one of his garden hut. It was dark under the full moon - not even a candle light was lit inside the hut. _Those slackers better be working on the Thrax or I'll blow their heads off. _

He was about to close the window when he was pulled out from the window. Some monstrous hand had his neck in an iron grip. He passed out for a few seconds, and when he opened his eyes he saw a dark face. The head had two horns on top of it and the figure seemed to have wings like that of a bat.

"Madre de Dios!" He cried.

"Ramon Francisco, you have done me wrong." a voice like that of a demon came out from the bat figure. "You went into Gotham and crossed me.

"El diablo!"

"Wrong!" the figure said in Spanish. "I'm worst than the devil that you fear. I am worst than the hell you avoid."

"Por favor..."

"Touch my city again and you will seek hell as refuge from me."

He screamed when the bat figure dropped him from the window. He almost swallowed his tongue from fright but his fall was abrupt as he felt pain in his leg. He was lucky the devil tied his feet to the window sill.

Dangling from the window he saw his room on fire. The fire was spreading rapidly from the money he was counting. He screamed for his men, but none came. He looked at the makeshift lab under the light of the moon. The hut exploded, and all he could see was fire...raging fire, as he passed out from fear. Fear...he did not seem to know what the word means…until tonight.** (END)**


End file.
